Adjustable furniture-leg.



J. W. HOUGH.

ADJUSTABLE FURNITURE LEG.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 30, 1915.

Patented May 23, 1916.

JOHN w. ROUGH, or WASHINGTON, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR or ONE-rm TO MY- NoND:r. snos'rnn, or WASHINGTON, NEW JERSEY.

ADJ STABLE FURNITURE-LEG. f

Specification of Iletters Patent.

Patented May 23, 1916.

Application filed March 30, 1915. Serial No. 18,146. v

To all'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JoH'N W. HOUGH, a citizen of the .United States,residing at Washington, in the county of Warren and State of New Jersey,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in AdjustableFurniture-Legs, of which the following is a specification.

" This invention contemplates an improved adjustable furniture legwhich, while being adapted for general application, is more particularlydesigned for use in. connection with piano stools or benches.

- The invention has as its primary object to provide a constructionwherein the length of the leg may be varied at will to thus adjust theheight of'the bench andto also 7 provide a mechanism for accomplishingthis purpose which will be entirely automatic in its operation.

The invention has as a further object to provide a construction whereinthe'working parts thereof willnot be visible-and which will thus, inuse, present a neat and attractive appearance. 4

Astill further object ofthe invention is to provide an arrangementwherein all of the legs of a bench may be simultaneously adjusted tovary the height'of the bench and wherein the adjusting mechanism of allof the legs will cooperate to simultaneously move into active positionfor holding the legs of the bench at adjustment. And the invention hasas a still further object toprovide a mechanism which will be simple inconstruction and which may thus be embodied ina manufactured article offurniture without materially-increasing the cost thereof.

Other and incidental objects will appear as the description proceeds andin the drawings wherein I have illustrated the preferred embodimentofthe invention and wherein similar reference characters designatecorresponding parts throughout the several views-,Figure 1 is afragmentary perspective view showing one leg of a piano bench embodyingmy invention, Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view more particularlyshowing .the construction of the mechanism employed,

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional'view taken on the line 22 of Fig. 2and particularly showing the mounting of the pawl for holding thesections of the legs at adjustment, Fig. 4 is a transverse sectionalview taken on the line 4-4 of Fig.2 and more particularly illustratingthe arrangement of the rack adapted to cooperate with the pawlreinvention.

In the preferred embodiment of my in-.

vention as illustrated in the drawings,-the furniture leg is formed insections 10 and 11. The section 10 at its outer end, is cen- 'trallybored longitudinallyflto form a substantially cylindrical socket 12,which is adapted to telescopically receive the section As moreparticularly shown in Fig. l of the drawings, the section 11 of the legis preferably of cylindrical form although, in carrying out theinvention, the exact crosssectional contour of' the leg will be foundimmaterial, it being merely 'necessar that the socket 12 be formed tofreely recelve the section 11 of the leg;

Detachably mounted within the socket 12 to extend axially. thereof is arod or stem 13, the said stem being of a length to extend, at one end,laterally beyond theJouter end of the said socket and being providedadjacent the opposite end thereof with screw threads .as shown at '14,adapted to detachably engage within a suitable bore formed in thesection 10 of the leg. The stem 13 upon one side, is provided with alongitudinally extending groove 15 while upon the opposite side thereof,it .is provided with a diametrically arranged and longitudinallyextending groove 16 similar to the groove 15. The adjacent terminal ofthe section 11 ofthe leg is formed with a longitudinally extending borein which is fitted an axially arranged casing 18 adapted to freelyreceive the free extremity of the stem 13 in the manner shown in Fig. 2of the drawings. The casing 18 is preferably of cylindrical form and maybe constructed of sheet metal or any other suitable material. Formedupon one side of the casing adjacent one end thereof, is alongitudinally extending rack 19 while the wall of the casing at theextremities of the said rack, iscut away to provide arcuate recesses 20and 21 respectively, the said recesses being, arranged in alinement withthe rack and each merging atone end by its bottom wall into the adjacentteeth of the rack as more particularly shown in Figs. 2 and 3 of thedrawings.

It will now be noted that the groove 1 is open at its outer end and isadapted to free y receive the rack 19 so that the stem 13 may slidefreely longitudinally within the casing 18. However, 1t will be observedthat the rack, being arranged to project radially toward the center ofthe casin as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, wi engage within thegroove 15 to prevent the section 11 from turning about its longitudinalaxis upon the section 10.

Detachably connecting the section 11 with the section 10 is a set screw.or pin 22 arranged to enga e within the radial o ening or bore forme inthe section 11 a jacent the inner end thereof as more particularly shownin Fig. 2 of the drawings, to extend, at its inner end, through asuitable 0 ening formed in the adjacent upper end 0 the casing 18 withthe inner terminal of the said pin projecting into the groove. 16 and"engaging freely therein. The pin 22 is thus adapted to engage oppositeend walls of the groove 16 for limiting the section 11 in its telescopicmovement upon the section 10 and is-adapted to engage within the saidgroove to coact with the rack 19 in preventing the section 11 fromturning about its longitudinal axis upon the section 10.

The stem 13, at its outer end, is bifurcated to form spaced arms 23between which is 'freely mounted a pawl or dog 24, the said dog beingfreely mounted upon a suitable pivot pin 25. The pawl 24 at one end, isprovided with a tooth 26 arranged to normally project laterally upon oneside of the stem 13 and adapted to engage the rack 19 while the oppositeend of the pawl is enlarged and is thus weighted to counterbalance thetooth so that the said pawl will normally swing or gravitate upon thepivot pin 25 to assume a substantially horizontal position as shown inFig. 2 of the drawm s.

%It will be noted upon reference to Fig. 2 of the drawings, that whenthe section 11 is shifted upon the section 10 to the limit.

of its outward movement thereon, the inner end of the section 11 willengage within the adjacent outer end of the socket 12 while the pin 22will be disposed immediately upon one side of the outer end of thesection' 10 where access may be readily had thereto. It will further beobserved that the pawl 24 will be moved to a position opposite therecess 20 with the tooth 26 of the pawl freely received within the saidrecess. When the section 11 is then telescoped upon the section 10, therack 19 will engage the tooth 20 of the pawl to consequently swing thatawl upwardly when the said tooth will ride over the rack as shown indotted lines in Fig. 2, to permit section 10.

Assuming the section 11 to be disposed atthe limit of its inwardmovement upon the section 10, the pawl 24 will be disposed opposite therecess 21 as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2 with the tooth 26 of thepawl freely disposed within the said recess. When the section 11 is thenshifted outwardly upon the section 10, the rack 19 will engage the freeend of the pawl with the toothof the said pawl presented downwardly andadapted to engage the tooth of the rack, as also shown in dotted'linesin Fig. 2. It will thus be seen that the pawl in such positioh, willnormally gravitate to engage the rack 19 and will adjustably support thesection 10 upon the section 11, the weight of the bench or article offurniture upon the section 10 of the leg then tending 26 when it willthen automatically gravitate'or swing upon its pivot, to assume itsnormal horizontal position. As will be clear, the section 11.1nay then,in the manner previously described, be shifted to the limit of itsinward telescopic movement upon the section 10.

Mounted within theinner extremity of the casing 18 is a yieldable disk'27 against which the inner end of the stem 13 is adapted to abut whenthe section 11 is shifted to the limit of its inward telescopic movementupon the section 10. The disk 27 is preferably formed of rubber althoughany other suitable material may be employed and provides a yieldableabutment for the stem.

It will therefore be seen that the construction which I provide isentirely automatic .in its operation and that in use, the height of thearticle of furniture from a floor surface may be readily regu'lated oradjusted by merel lifting upwardly upon the said article 0 furniture. Inthis connection, it is desired to direct articular attention to the factthat when the invention is applied to an article of furniture havingseveral legs, such for instance as a piano bench, the mechanism withinthe several le of the bench will cooperate, so that the eight of thebench from a floor surfacemay be easily regulated or adjusted by simplylifting upwardly upon the bench, the mechanism of the several legs beingadapted to operate antomatically and simultaneously.

In Fig. 5 of the drawings, have-disclosed a slight modification of theinvention wherein the stem 13 is of tubular form and is thus adapted tofreely receivea wire or other suitable flexible element 28 terminallyconnected, at one extremity, to the pawl 24 adjacent the extremitythereof opposite the tooth 26, while the opposite end or terminal ofthesaid flexible element is connected to a suitable button or operatinglever arranged in convenient location upon the article of furniture towhich the invention is applied so as to be re'adilyvand easily operableto actuate the pawl 24 through the medium of the said flexible element.Assuming the pawl 24 to be in operative engagement with the rack 19 in amanner previously described, it will be seen that by pulling upwardlyupon the flexible element 28, the tooth 26 of the pawl may be moved outof engagement with the rack so that the section 11 may be telescopedupon the section 10 to consequently lower the height of the article offurniture from the floor surface without the necessity of first shiftingthe section 11 to the limit of. its outward telescopic movement upon thesection 10 as in the preferred form of the invention. Since the specifictype and arrangement of the button referred to forms no part of thepresent invention and since any conventional type of button maybeemployed, suchbutton has not been illustrated. The modified form of theinvention is, in other respects, identical in construction with thepreferred form and a further description thereof will, therefore, not begiven.

It will be seen that the mechanism which I provide is very simple inconstruction, may be readily embodied in the manufactured articlewithout material increase in the cost thereof, and, in use, will be neatand attractive in appearance, the working parts of the invention beingentirely concealed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is 1. A device of the character described includingcoacting sections one formed to slidably receive the other, a stemprojecting axially of said first mentioned section, a casing carried bysaid second mentioned sec-' tion and slidably receiving the freeextremity of said stem, a rack projecting into the casing, and a pawlfreely mounted upon the stem and arranged to coact with the rack.

2. A device of the character described including coacting sections oneformed to slidably receive the other, a solid stem projecting axlall ofsaid first mentioned section and provi ed with longitudinally extendinggrooves, a casing carried by said second stem to cooperatewith the rackand automatically shiftable to operative and inoperative positionsrelative thereto.

' 3. A device of the character described including coacting sections oneformed to slidably receive the other, a stem projecting axially of saidfirst mentioned section and slidably received by said second mentionedsection, a rack carried by said second mentioned section, and a pawlnormally gravitating to balanced posltion upon the stem to cooperatewith the rack and movable with the stem to be automatically shifted bythe rack to operative and inoperative positions relative thereto.

4:. A device of the character described including coacting sections oneformed to slidably receive the other, a stem projecting axially of saidfirst mentioned section and freely received by said second mentionedsection, a stop pin carried by said second mentioned section andengaging the stem for slidably connecting the said sections, the

pin being adapted to engage the stem for limiting the said secondmentioned section in its outward movement upon the first mentionedsection, a rack carried by said second mentioned section, a pawl mountedupon the stem to automatically cooperate with the rack, and a cushioningelement fixed at the lower extremity of the rack and adapted forengagement by the stem for limiting said second mentioned section in itsinward movement upon the said first mentioned section.

5. The combination with a furniture leg, of an extension mounted toslide within the leg, a rack carried by the extension, a stem carried bythe leg, and a pawl freely mounted upon the stem and normallygravitating toward a balanced position in engagement with the rack forholding the extension at adjustment upon the rack, the extension beingshiftable for moving the rack to position to shift the pawl intoinactive position relative thereto.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

I JOHN W. HOUGH. [1,. s.] Witnesses:

RAYMOND SHUs'rER, I RAYMOND VAN DUNK.

